Natanleod, according to the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

'', was a king of the Britons. His inclusion in the ''Chronicle'' is widely believed to be the product of

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

History

Under the year 508, a date which is not to be relied upon,Campbell, ''Anglo-Saxons'', pp. 26–27. the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' reports that Cerdic and Cynric "killed a certain British king named Natanleod, and 5 thousand men with him – after whom the land as far as Cerdic's ford was named ''Natanleaga''". Cerdic's ford is identified with North Charford and South Charford in modern

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and ''Natanleaga'' with a marshy area, Netley Marsh, close to the town of Totton in Hampshire. This claim is disputed by Andrew Breeze, who takes the account to be genuine. Bernard Mees, while agnostic to the entry's truth, notes that the story could be a garbled recollection of Brythonic infighting in sub-Roman Britain given Cerdic's own name is known to be of Celtic origin. ''Natanleaga'', however, is generally thought not to preserve the name of a defeated British king, but is instead derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

element ("wet") (in its weak oblique form ).Sims-Williams, "Settlement"Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 4. However this hypothesized weak oblique form is not otherwise attested according to Bernard Mees. Potential onomastic evidence for a Celtic origin exists: a recent find of pottery at a Roman settlement at Healam Bridge west of Pickhill,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

contains the Gaulish name ''Natonus'', which could be linguistically related. According to this theory the second element of this name is the

''lēod'' ("prince" or "chief") and the source used by the ''Chronicles complier may have read something like "Natan leod". Edwin Guest in 1842 suggested a similar derivation, although lacking the Healam Bridge evidence supposed "''Nate'' to be a fem. subst. signifying a district, ''Natanleod'' will mean the Prince of Nate, and ''Natanleaga'' the lea of Nate." If his origin is as an invented persona, Natanleod is not unique in the early part of the ''Chronicle''. Similar folk etymologies are believed to have produced the Jutish king

Wihtgar Wihtwara ( or ) were the Early Medieval inhabitants of the Isle of Wight, a island off the south coast of England. Writers such as Bede attribute their origin to Jutes who migrated to the island during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. The ...

, Port, the supposed

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, and others.Campbell, ''Anglo-Saxons'', pp. 26–27. James Campbell notes the similarity between such Anglo-Saxon traditions and the Middle Irish language ''dindshenchas'', such as the '' Metrical Dindshenchas'', which record traditions about places. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Natanleod was frequently identified with

Ambrosius Aurelianus Ambrosius Aurelianus (; Anglicised as Ambrose Aurelian and called Aurelius Ambrosius in the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and elsewhere) was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th c ...

, or even

Uther Pendragon Uther Pendragon ( ; the Brittonic languages, Brittonic name; , or ), also known as King Uther (or Uter), was a List of legendary kings of Britain, legendary King of the Britons and father of King Arthur. A few minor references to Uther appe ...

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

, in ''

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', sometimes shortened to ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. The six volumes cover, from 98 to 1590, the peak of the Ro ...

'', refers to this identification with scepticism: "By the unanimous, though doubtful, conjecture of our antiquarians, Ambrosius is confounded with Natanleod, who lost his own life and five thousand of his subjects in a battle against Cerdic, the West Saxon."

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Sub-Roman monarchs New Forest folklore